Pistons Lose A Heartbreaker to the Clippers 142-131

The Clippers Bench Pulled Off A Furious Comeback Late In The Fourth Quarter And Never Looked Back

Speechless is the only way you can describe the game. The Pistons were ready to celebrate a victory against the Los Angeles Clippers when their head coach Tyronn Lue pulled his starters and opted for his bench in the final four minutes of the game. The Pistons were up fourteen and it was all smiles in Detroit, emphasize the word "was". The Clippers bench came back to tie the game, and then the Clippers starters finished the job. Here are a couple takeaways/thoughts from Monday's game.

A Fourth Quarter Collapse

It is hard to talk about the positives from this game without addressing the elephant in the room. How did it happen? Ironically on a night where the Pistons had a season high in assists, the passing completely stopped. All of the sudden you had Killian Hayes or Bojan Bogdanovic running out the shot-clock to then put up a contest two, or waiting till the very end to make a drive to the basket. Sure, this is good a couple of times, but when the Clippers are slowly cutting back into the lead, why stop what had been working for you all game? Even the Pistons lone basket in overtime was off an Alec Burks isolation. It felt as if the team thought they had won the game already, and so they stopped playing to win. Normally, when the Pistons lose, it seen as part of the "restoring" process. Nothing more than a young team going through a rebuild. In the grand scheme of things, the Pistons are inching closer to having the best odds at Victor Wembanyama, but despite this only being one game, it feels as if the Pistons took a step back. If there is one silver lining, the Pistons did not choke the game in the third quarter this time.

But At Least the Offense Was Good?

If the Pistons won this game, I would be writing about how balanced the scoring attack was with eight players scoring in double digits. Everything seemed to click. Killian Hayes was knocking down shots and finding the open man. Isaiah Stewart's shooting is for real and he also showed some promise with putting the ball on the floor. Jalen Duren continued his strong play by being a force on the glass. Saddiq Bey got back into his groove and knocked down shots. Even Hamidou Diallo was a plus with 12 points off the bench. It is clear that the Pistons young players are getting more comfortable game by game. Now, the focus is on sustaining that for a full 48 minutes.